So! you’ve always wanted to play the guitar huh? But you think that learning on your own will be too difficult without a teacher.
No problem! Guitar Lessons and teachers pop up like weeds, they’re everywhere. You don’t have to be alone. If your one of those folks that wants a guitar teacher in your town, then I can’t stress this enough.
Look for one that your personalities mesh together.Because if you don’t you will have wasted your time, energy and money. Wish you could find a better Professional Guitar Teacher?
Well, you’re in luck! Through Skype Services you can take Guitar Lessons from any teacher any where in the world, that you will be sure to get along with.
In this article I will walk you through these three tips for learning guitar through Skype, and to make sure that you get matched to the right guitar teacher and lessons thats right for you.
Tip 1: Make Sure You Have A Good Internet Connection
In order to get the most out of your lessons you are going to have to have a fairly reliable internet connection. An internet speed of at least 400 kbps for minimum download and upload is required.
But it is generally Recommended For Video Calls to have 500 kbps download and upload speeds. For me I think I would go up to 1.5 mbps or 2 mbps so not to worry about it. Also It would be good to Check With Skype Support.
So be sure to double check the speed of our connection before you sign up for any lessons. For that I’ve included this Xfinity SpeedTest from Comcast for you.
Since your going to be investing a lot of time, energy and money for guitar lessons on Skype. You will need to take into consideration what your internet provider can do for you. To help you out I’ve found a Comcast Review 2015 for you to look at.
Lets say for instance you have a lot of people in your house all on computers are streaming something. If the internet speed isn’t fast enough you may have to organize a time where you can be sure that you will be the only one using the internet at that particular time.
As a general rule the more people that are online the slower your internet will run, which will make your Skype lessons a nightmare. Guitar lessons demand some attention, and I would not want that to discourage you from continuing your education.
Tip 2: Get A Good Webcam
A good webcam will make or break your experience. You’re going to want the best picture
possible so that you are able to see everything that your guitar teacher is trying to show you in detail. Maybe you don’t need the best but a good webcam won’t set you back that far.
You’ll get what you pay for here, but be sure to shop around. There might be some great deals lurking out there that you might be able to take advantage of.
Also as something to think about. You might want to consider a headset, this is not a necessity but it will make it easier for you in the long run.
Zakk Wylde – The Best Solo Live at Budokan
Tip 3: Don’t Find Your Teacher Based On Your Favorite Type of Music
The above video might be your favorite song, but! you won’t be able to play that after your first few lessons. That took Zakk years and hundreds of hours to master.
So as counter intuitive as this may sound, your guitar teacher shouldn’t and probable won’t be spending all of his or her time teaching you your favorite type of music or songs. You’d just be wasting their time and your money. Thats not saying there won’t be your favorite tunes in the curriculum.
In the early stages the guitar teacher should be educating you on the ins and outs of your instrument, building the groundwork up. So that in the future you can pursue your own interests in your free time after all practicing and homework is done. Thats when you start to emulate your favorite guitar player.
There is a general progression that a new guitar player should be walked down when they are starting their journey. Your guitar teacher should first be showing you the very basics below.
- How to hold the guitar properly
- How to tune your guitar
- Names of all open strings
- Names of fretted notes
- How to read Standard Notation
- How to read Tabs
- Teach you a simple melody
- Start learning picking techniques
- Give you some easy chord shapes
- Show you a simple strumming technique
- Help you keep time with a metronome
- Then teach you a song written for beginners
- Give you homework after every class
- Have you perform your homework for the class
And of coarse scales and music theory will all come in due time. But I think you get my drift if your guitar teacher isn’t following this basic progression or something like it. Be sure to objectively evaluate whether or not you are actually learning anything at all.
Keep in mind not all guitar teachers teach the same way, but most will be following some kind of guideline maybe not exactly as I’ve shown it here. All I’m trying to do is give you some kind of idea on what to expect. To me this would be a good indicator of their ability to teach music, and one of many other ways to tell if your guitar teacher is worth the money.
Closing Thoughts
I hope that this article educated you on how to go about finding a qualified teacher to give you Guitar Lessons on Skype.
Guitar can be and often is a life long pursuit of your passion of music. It can be so rewarding once you get going.
The music is inside of you, lets get it out so it can be heard. Good luck!
Some Guitar Humor 🙂
How do you get a lead guitar player to turn down?
Answer at very bottom, wait for it! (with an added treat below) Leave a Comment and Share
Astala
Markus
A Guitarist He May Not Be – But a Trained and Very Talented Musician He Is.
Turn This Up Now !- Meet Ian Head
Answer: Hand him a piece of sheet music. 🙂
Wow, never know that there are guitar lessons through Skype services!
I have a Skype account and a guitar.
Learning guitar at home with a professional teacher sounds great.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Sylvia, I know right every body seems to forget about Skype for learning guitar and on that platform you do get to be one on one with the instructor in real time.
Which to me at least is very important to the student. Give them a try I think you will like it.
Thanks for visiting me Sylvia and come back again as I will have more information on this topic coming up.
Thanks 🙂
Zakk Wylde is an amazing guitar soloist his improvise is unique and stylish. My son have learnt classical guitar solo over four years an now he is interested in metal string with variety of style. I hope he will love the Skye lesson and your suggestion.
Yea Zakk Wylde is right up there with a whole host of others that are so very talented. And using him as an example for some of his fans that want to play like him,
was only to drive the point home that in a students first few lessons thats not happening. Unless of coarse you study hard and keep practicing.
Which your son studying classical music would know well. I do believe your son will like guitar lessons on Skype as being in the classical environment he will certainly appreciate face to face lessons.
Glad you stopped by come back and see me again.
Thanks 🙂
hi Markus!
I do not know much about guitars myself but through 2 friends of mine who live guitars, I have come to learn some things. For example, I certainly know who Zakk Wylde is!! The God in the guitar world. 🙂
I had never thought about the possibility of learning guitar online, less alone on Skype. I guess my friends are old fashioned as they buy music sheets and learn from them or simply learn by listening. But I think that learning on Skype is a fantastic idea
Well thats ok Emily you made it here anyway, thats whats important. Maybe some day you’ll want to take up guitar.
And now you know that Skype is a very good platform to go have one on one lessons with a real teacher.
No your friends aren’t old fashioned, their in fact just like the rest of us guitar players.That our learning curve.
At first we all want to play our favorite songs and not so much learn music. Its that instant gratification thing!
I did it to, the only difference was I also had a teacher that would correct me when I picked up bad habits.
Thanks for stopping by come back again when you want to know more about guitars.
Thanks 🙂
Hi, thanks for sharing this info on taking guitar lessons on Skype. I am a teacher and have some ideas about using this platform to help my past and present pupils at the university, you have provided the knowledge and information that will help in setting up my guitar lessons on Skype for all my students. Will keep on following your work. Congratulations.
Hello Alexis so glad you caught the post. I know these 3 tips are very simple one’s but! most people tend to forget about them till its to late.
Internet speed can be a real drag (freezing up) if you don’t have the proper speed to keep your lessons in real time.
I think this would be a great way to teach new students and would certainly broaden your reach for students. In my opinion its just far better for guitar lessons than the internet.
Thanks 🙂
I love the idea of guitar lessons on Skype. There are loads of great websites out there offering great guitar lessons but nothing can beat a one on one and Skype has certainly filled that void online.
Hello Jason good to see you back. Yep I agree if you want a more personal lesson with a guitar teacher then Skype is certainly the way to go.
And as I pointed out all you need really is good internet to make your experience with you guitar lessons on Skype more enjoyable and productive.
Thanks for stopping by again Jason, I’ll see you the next time around.
Thanks 🙂
Pretty cool, Skype lessons seems great for someone with kids who can’t necessarily get out of the house to go to a lesson, they can just do right at home. I know I would like it, as I always have to pay babysitters if I want to go somewhere. Been wanting to get my 7 year old started too. I think he is a good age for it.
Hello Brittany, you know your right having a guitar teacher give you lessons on Skype is the next best thing to being in their studio live.
And the quality of the lessons is very good due to the real time student/teacher interaction. No need for that baby sitter either,
I think its a good age to start your son in music. How ever that being said there is a debate with some on what the right age is.
My parents started me at the ripe old age of 6. So I’m in the camp of starting them as young as possible.
When you and/or your son get started in guitar, if you have questions come back and ask. I will help you the best I can. See you soon.
Thanks 🙂